State forest rangers helped numerous groups of hikers last week, in addition to helping a father locate his son who was long-term illegally camping on Forest Preserve lands near Schroon Lake.

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Town of Long Lake

On Monday, July 8, a 71-year-old man fell near the summit of Owls Head Mountain in Long Lake, dislocating his shoulder and hitting his head. The hiker continued to walk out, but pain forced him to stop. A forest ranger and a member of the Long Lake Rescue Squad proceeded up the trail and met the hiker, providing first aid before escorting him to an ambulance.

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Town of Indian Lake

Shortly after 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 9, a Binghamton man called from the summit of Blue Mountain, saying that his kids were tired. The man asked permission to drive to the summit to pick up the kids. There is an access road to the summit of the mountain, but it is on private land and only emergency personnel can use it to service radio equipment at the summit. The man was told driving up was not an option.

A forest ranger was contacted, and decided to utilize the road to bring the wife and 6-year-old daughter down, while the man and their 10-year-old son hiked down. The parties were reunited at the trailhead shortly before 9 p.m.

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Town of Schroon

At 7:40 p.m. on Thursday, July 11, a call came in to DEC dispatch from a father concerned about his 36-year-old son. The son had been long-term camping, illegally, in the Hoffman Notch Wilderness Area, and the father reported that the last two supply drops had not been picked up.

On July 12, three rangers responded and the welfare check became a search for a missing person after the son was not found in the location described by the father. After several hours, the father was brought into the woods to take rangers to the son’s location. The son was located in good condition after 3 p.m., and enforcement actions are pending.

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Town of Keene

Just before midnight on Saturday, July 13, a call came in reporting an overdue party on Mount Colden. The party of seven — from New Jersey — had climbed the Trap Dike but began to lose phone power during their decent toward Lake Arnold.

Forest Ranger Lt. Chris Kostoss requested the group spend the night together at Lake Arnold. The next morning, a call came in from an assistant forest ranger saying the group was at Marcy Dam, and wanted help getting to the Adirondack Loj. A ranger responded and gave three men, each of whom was suffering from advanced dehydration, a ride while the other four hiked out.